NORTH Hampshire British Touring Car Championship drivers Rob Collard and Nick Foster have suffered a frustrating season with their new e-bay Motors BMW car. but the signs are there it will be amongst the front runners in 2014.

Hook’s Collard finished the year 13th in the drivers championship, with Foster two places further down the order after the final outing at Brands Hatch.

Collard started well at the Kent track, bagging seventh place in the first race.

He was up to fifth in race two but was then knocked off by Aaron Smith and had to fight his way back up the field to finish 14th and, in the final race, came in eighth.

Collard said: “It was a better day for me and I felt I had the pace for a podium in race two until I was knocked off.”

Talking about the season, the Hook racer said: “This has been my worst year in BTCC as I have had seven nonfinishes and they have mostly been in race one or two, which has compromised my whole day’s racing.

“It has been a tough year with the new car, but I think the BMW is now one of the top cars on the grid, so I would like to drive it again next season.”

For Odiham’s Foster, his first race at Brands only lasted one lap as, in the heavy rain, he was unable to avoid his spinning team mate Colin Turkington, having a head-on crash that put him out for the race.

The car was still not right for his second outing and he had to settle for 19th place, though he managed to improve by three places in the last race of the season.

Foster said: “It was not the start I was looking for and in all that spray I saw Matt Jackson dive right and the next thing I knew, I had hit Colin.

“The car still was not right in race two and it certainly was not the way I wanted to finish the year.”

Talking about his season, Foster said: “We have made a lot of progress with the car and I would love to drive next year.

“The team have some more changes to make and I think we will be right in the mix.”

The championship was won by Andrew Jordan and both Collard and Foster agreed he was a worthy winner.

Collard said: “Andy has driven well all season and deserved the title.”

Foster added: “Andy did a brilliant job beating the works Honda and for me he was a worthy champion.”

Both drivers will hope to be back next season, which starts again at Brands Hatch on Sunday March 30, 2014.